the wacky wombat weblog

Just flew back from Tokyo to Singapore. First thing I noticed when I got off the plane? Travelators and escalators that don’t ’speak’. haha. *In Japan, all travelators and escalators play a recorded female voice telling you to please watch your step and don’t fall on your face, or something, over and over and over.

Took United Airlines, flight was alright, not too bumpy even though weather was cloudy. Food was meh (my butter was not melted into oil this time, but the bread was stone-cold). In-flight entertainment didn’t leave me very entertained with its combination of bad movies, crappy audio and puny screen. Oh well, business as usual on UA.

Nevertheless, the view of the sunset from above the clouds was quite nice (or at least to me it is). :p Plus the seat next to mine was vacant, so, yay!

Flight landed 20 minutes early, so I thought hurray, the faster I get out of Changi, the more I can avoid cab surcharge going overboard. Unfortunately, with the uncanny luck of always ending up on the queue that is the slowest no matter what I do, I only left the airport at 1.10am no thanks to idiots who seem to not have proper travel papers in my queue and cab lines extending to the front of arrival gates.

Anyhoo, I’m back, fatter from all the food in Japan, and sneezing non-stop now after cleaning up the dust in my room. Convocation’s happening in 3 days, and my family will be coming down to Singapore for that, so lots to look forward to (besides more dusting up of my room).

p/s: time for char kuay teow tomorrow. w00t!

Besides my mer-dragon encounter, I also had a nice time strolling around the gardens at the Imperial Palace. I always like how fresh everything looks and smells right after a short misty shower.

Took some photos, but not all turned out as nice as I had hoped. This time I decided to skip the editing like fine-tuning the colours and all, and stuck with the original, although I cropped some slightly to give the picture more balance. But all the same, I had fun playing with Au Yong’s digital camera (Casio Exilim EX-Z850).

My favourite is the spiderweb and the suspended water drops trapped in it. Here’s more of the rest. Alternatively, go to the navigation bar at the top of this page, and hit <photo gallery>.

Tried to take some photos of the Tokyo city scape, but I just can’t seem to capture concrete and steel structures nicely. Looks drab most of the time. But gotta shift from the flowers and greenery, and change my focus to city scenes.

Singapore has the merlion. Guess what I found in Tokyo.

Mer-dragon? haha.

Found this at the entrance to the Imperial Palace Garden on Wednesday. The ferocity of the dragon seems kinda diminished with that nice fish tail that he’s got.

But after looking at a notice stuck next to it, seems like he isn’t really a dragon.

Er, stylized dolphin?! (ok maybe a dolphin styled after a dragon?) 0_o

Well at least it looks more dignified than the merlion that zaps laser lights out of its eyes on Sentosa Island. And I suppose being 350 years old helps too. :p

One can never have too many pair of shoes is what I always think (unless you’re Imelda Marcos).

Was out with Au Yong looking for a new pair of sports shoes 2 days ago. And of course, I ended up finding something I liked, and bought it as well.

A new pink pair! For only 5600yen, it’s a pretty good buy. I’ll just have to make sure the white parts don’t get dirty too soon.

As I unpacked my shoes after the shopping trip, what interested me more was not the new pink shoe, but the box that it came in. Lots of stuff printed on it, and some didn’t quite make sense (at least to me it didn’t).

“Average contents: 2″??? These ARE shoes made for humans, right? With 2 feet? I’m sure they had to print that, oh you know, just in case someone buys it but expects 3 individual shoes in there (one’s for his head, or hand or tail, you see) only to find 2 in dismay and sues the company???

auyongtc: Or what if it’s written on the box Average contents: 1.75 ? Does this means that there’s a 25% chance you’ll not get the other shoe? LOL

Don’t quite know what to make of some of these logos either. (from L –> R)

1. umm, battery not necessary in utilizing this product? fair enough, makes sense.
2. “Products may differ from those shown” –> um, ok, my shoe certainly doesn’t look like this logo.
3. no swimming while wearing these shoes? do not double as flippers. hah.
4. “Shoes sold in pairs only. Sale of single shoe is not permissible.” –> bad news for poor ole’ one-legged pirate captain on wooden-peg.
5. this last one is the best. What does it mean? “Shoes best for running during escapes”??? “With these shoes, you can have a clear escape and no one can catcha!” ??? (hm, good for prison breaking lol)

The box also provided a helpful chart to help you compare and find out your shoe sizing under the various different measurement systems around the world, including a even more helpful size comparison to daily items.

Turns out my feet’s smaller than a pair of chopstick. I will never be able to look at chopsticks from now on without imagining placing my feet next to it, several centimeters shorter. (sigh, why won’t my feet grow…)

And with all the hype around a greener environment and saving our world from spontaneous combustion, there is a helpful little recycle tip on a folded corner of the box.

Never thought a shoe box could engage my interest so much that I’m actually blogging about it. LOL!

*disclaimer: Au Yong says he’s too busy/tired/lazy (please choose one) to provide the update, so I’m doing it instead.

A couple of weeks back, it was Au Yong’s 26th birthday. But since he was always busy/tired/lazy, so me and my friend yuri had to put off our ’surprise’ birthday plan x number of times. Finally on a Saturday, we all managed to meet up, on a pretext of just hanging out (when we actually have a surprise dinner thingy in stored).

Lunched at Kua Aina Burger, a Hawaiian burger joint, that serves avocado burgers on kaiser rolls (my favourite!)

As you can see, it’s HUGE, and I have some trouble stuffing into my mouth. It was quite a sight, with the avocado sliding out of the burger every few minutes and me breaking my jaw trying to open my mouth bigger, thus there will be no photo evidence here to illustrate that.

We hung out, played Wii (almost taking out each other’s arms and eyes with the Wiimote), took a stroll at the nearby temple — a lazy Saturday.

Dinner was in a little izakaya in a small alley of the back street of another back street at Shibuya. The walk there was confusing and I do not remember where it is anymore lol. The whole place is run by women – chef, staff, everyone. Very interesting. Rarely see female chefs.

The place was loud, noisy and friendly. And food was good. Chicken gizzard, chicken hearts (!), and chicken ass (!!) yakitori. Raw fish seared by blowtorch. And eel rice in a stone bowl (tastes fantastic when the green tea was added in later). And a lot of plum sake for me. :p

For the finale, the lights were dimmed and a BIG loud announcement was made about Au Yong’s birthday (in japanese – so we both don’t know exactly everything they said) lol. Followed by a dance to an anime song by the entire staff (all cooking paused), and then a birthday song and a nice birthday ice cream with candles for him. It was a good thing he wasn’t made to give a speech (like what they do in TGI Fridays restaurants back home). The fun thing was that the entire restaurant joined in, cheered, clapped, and was very sporting (unlike at home where everyone will just mind their own business and not join in).

And here’s one for the album. wooo~

Went to try Okinawa cuisine for dinner yesterday on our friend Yuri’s recommendation. It’s really a fantastic place.

The restaurant is a little place right next to Ogikubo train station. Everything in there is Okinawan – the food, drinks, music, and even sand. haha. Ok, I doubt they actually brought the sand over, but I thought it was a cute setting, putting the tables on sand like we’re eating at the beach. :p

Okinawa food is supposed to be very healthy (people on that island live very long), and different from the usual japanese food. I thought this is definitely the most interesting thing of all:

It’s our salad. When I opened the box, there was like dry ice floating out, and the green little itty bitty things on top looked like fish roes to me. Turns out, they’re actually a type of vegetable/plant. Seaweed, that is. O_o Definitely one of the coolest thing I’ve seen so far. haha.

It looks like mini fish roe (on a stem), and when you eat it, it feels a bit like the tiny fish roe texture, but tastes totally different, un-fish-like, but also un-seaweed-like. But definitely tastes gooooood. yum.

Many months ago, Au Yong told me that Krispy Kreme had opened up an outlet in Tokyo. And so, I was determined to have some yummylicious doughnuts before this trip is over. Especially since it’s been over 2 years since I last had their doughnuts (which had caused massive crazy food craving in me then: refer old raving mad blog entries here.)

So I was bumming around yesterday without much to do (gotta give that Wii a rest and stop playing for a day haha). Thus I decided to take the train down to Shinjuku and perhaps buy a dozen doughnuts. Of course, Au Yong talked sense into me and so yes, 6 doughnuts instead of 12. haha.

Being a weekday and all, I thought the queue wouldn’t be so bad. I mean, the shop’s been here for months, surely the fad’s gone down. But when I got there, omg…

There was a long queue snaking right outside the shop, with 4 blue-uniformed-men guarding/facilitating the queues (explanation of the low unemployment rate here: jobs created for every single imaginable task). And worst, the queue doesn’t end there.

It continues behind the store, right up onto the bridge that connects to Takashimaya!! >.< ack. And a very helpful little board at the front of the shop clearly indicates that: you are just TWO hours away from being served. X_x

Fantastic. buek. As crazy as I am about their doughnuts, I don’t think I’m mentally ready to go queue up for 2 hours (and buy only 6). Might end up losing my brains halfway thru the queue.

And I thought the queue at the (not-krispy-kreme)-doughnut kiosk in Raffles City Shopping Centre basement was bad. :s

Move over wombat. The position of ‘my favourite animal’ has just been usurped.  By…

The Anteater.

Yup. Saw a documentary a while back on Animal Planet when they were doing a feature on animals in the South America continent. The Anteater was huge, furry, and snoring under a tree. hahaha. It tried to run away from the camera but I think he was more like lumbering away than really running away. Anyway, that piqued my interest in the animal and started reading about it on wikipedia. Like, it eats 30,000 ants a day. BIG healthy protein diet.

Then, I was shopping around Ikebukuro the other day, and amidst the pile of tiny elephants and lions soft toys, there was one solitary anteater! Seriously, who sells anteater soft toys anyway? Except the zoo of course. Usually it’s just bears, dogs, cat, and bunnies. So I bought it.

Here it is in its new habitat. Foraging for ants (and found none in Japan!)

Nope I don’t have a photographic memory. But I like the memories that photos bring when you look back at them. It captures the mood that I was in, or maybe a story, or it makes me think, or it simply just makes me ramble on about it to other people. hehe. :p

Grapes. I like eating grapes, especially the tiny ones. I like stuffing a few at a time in my mouth, and feeling it go ‘pop’ in my mouth when I bite on it. Yummy. But I’ve never really bought much grapes on my own. Mainly cos it’s not that cheap, and NTUC doesn’t always have the prettiest grapes. I’m picky about my grapes.

And I never go to markets. But one Sunday, I decided to go take a look at the stuff they were selling after I bought my breakfast. And I found exactly the kind of grapes that I like! Small, that goes ‘pop’ in the mouth. And they were fresh. Me happy. And I think I shall make more trips to the market next time.

Sneakers. Practical and fun footwear. That’s why I like ‘em. And I really liked this one that I saw at Converse. And it’s only S$59. But sadly, I didn’t buy it.

Because my feet is midget-sized. I can’t wear their size 4 and that’s the smallest they’ve got for adults. So ok, I can always take kids’ sizing, and kids’ range is cheaper haha. But nope, biggest for kids is a 2. And it’s not that there’s no stock for 3. Size 3 just doesn’t exist it seems.

Sigh oh well. Maybe I was those feet binding girls in my past past life or something. bleah. I wish I’d grow. But it’s too late lol. 24 this year, this coming year of the pig. oink.

Lake. Lakes are calming, but I don’t usually go to one here, cos the weather is too damn hot. But yesterday was different. We had to recee for a location for a photoshoot for our fyp project.

Not your average Singapore landscape, but I like it. A little buffer of calmness from the mad rush outside of it. And I’ve lived so near it for the past 3 years but never visited it until now.

Taken at Jurong lake, next to Lakeside MRT.

Red. Not the kind of colour that I’d pick to paint my house with. But it fits this old shophouse at Amoy Street perfectly well. Bold, and traditional at the same time.

I’m gonna wear red this Chinese New Year too.

** photos all taken with the 1.3megapix camera my 703SH phone. Convenient photo-taking. :p

I got a pretty pretty, ultra slim 2GB iPod nano from Au Yong last December. It was a nice anniversary surprise.

It’s got a name: nana の nano. (read as: nana no nano. Meaning nana’s nano. It’s engraved on the back of it, just because it sounds funny when you say it all really fast.)

But it hadn’t got a home. We took a while going through the different types of casings available at the Apple store and all, but ended up with nothing.

Then we saw the designs on Fabrix, and it’s beautiful!

I like how the stripes contrast nicely with the denim red on the front. And on the inside, bold stripes all over, and that little red velcro bit. Plus clear plastic to house and protect the nano, very snug fit, without reducing the sensitivity of the click wheel. So cool!

They’ve also got some lovely laptop sleeves, but I’ve got one already for MacMac so no need to spend on another.

The order did take a little long to confirm and all that, but I’m happy with the end product that arrived at my doorstep.